Category: Health and Fitness

Do you fight your appetite? Do you think, “If only I could NEVER be hungry – then I’d lose weight…”? or, “Appetite? Ha, I learned to ditch that braud long ago…”

Well – you’re wrong. Yes, I said it. It’s not quite what you are wanting to hear. But I promise it’s real, tough love.

Your body is REALLY smart, and this desire will always take over any “body control” strategy we implement. Much like breathing, at some point – you’re gonna come up for air.

What if I told you that appetite is your friend? It’s there to help you, and it’s a really smart, natural process.

Here’s the facts:

Trying to control appetite triggers “survival mode” otherwise known as “starvation mode” and our appetite will become even more ravenous. This creates a STRESS response and also increases anxiety. This makes for crazy making, our body & our willpower will be at war. And spoiler alert: the body will win.

Stress = more insulin & cortisol which signals the body to store weight and lose muscle. The OPPOSITE of what most people are going for.

Stress also = the brain losing it’s ability to key us into healthier foods and instead craving donuts and bread bc your brain thinks you are in starvation mode ( I mean, why else would you ignore it’s hunger calls?) Your body then initiates an internal campaign for you to grab food that creates a surplus of energy (sugar and carbs) and may even make you feel sick.

Appetite has it’s own flow. You CANNOT control it.

What can YOU do?

Stop fighting your appetite. Really.

Invite your appetite back into your life and work towards becoming more mindful & aware.

If you’ve been ignoring you’re appetite for a while, it may take some time for it to regulate (like in major eating disorders or emotional eating), however, trust the process. The more you practice tuning into it, the more aware you will become.

Side note: if you have issues with your hormones & have desperately tried to become mindful to your appetite, you may need to seek physician assistance to help your body once again regulate your appetite & cue you into the wisdom you need.

Odds are YOU are vitamin D deficient. It’s estimated around 85% of Americans are (even those who take multi-vitamins religiously).

And although we still walk, talk, and breathe just fine without it–this little vitamin is crucial for optimum health and well being over the long haul.

In fact, Vitamin D deficiency has been tied to:

Autoimmune Disorders

Mood Disorders (depression & anxiety)

Premature Aging (wrinkles and cell damage)

IBS

Increased levels of stress

Decreased levels of energy

So, if you’re interested in becoming more youthful, happy, and healthier run by your local whole foods or vitamin shoppe and pick out some Vitamin D-3. Now the 3 there is crucial, because it’s the REAL DEAL. The vitamin D-2 stuff is synthetic, less potent, and overall less useful to our bodies and partially why vitamins get a bad rep these days.

The older RDI’s (recommended daily intakes) are from the 70’s, and the newer research suggest that humans need about 5,000-10,000 IUD’s of Vitamin D-3 to really reap the benefits and not be deficient (that’s why your normal multi-vitamin likely isn’t cutting it).

Other ways to get some quality D-3 is from eating salmon, lean meats, and mushrooms.

Oh, and you can soak up some rays on a sunny day–that does the trick too.

So why are beach bums typically on the “chill, youthful, and happy side”? Vitamin D-3, bro.
Until next time,

We’ve all known or been in the shoes of the person who wants to please everyone. It’s exhausting. (For them and for those around them) And guess what? It’s also impossible. When the goal at the end of the day is to make EVERY person happy, it’s coming from a place of needing something, and not from a place of truly wanting to “be a caring person”. Part of being a HEALTHY person who also really loves caring about people is setting boundaries and being authentically yourself. Sure, you probably have some messy parts that you’re trying to work on (don’t we all!) but I think part of being AUTHENTICALLY you, is digging deep and figuring out what you like, dislike, and truly believe in when it comes from a place of being healthy and “feeling like your enough”, not from a place of needing something from others. And that means embracing your ability to say no to things, people and to accept that–guess what? Not every one is going to like you… and? That’s totally brilliant.

So you want to “be someone else”, eh?

Trying to emulate others completely is… well, quite impossible. I think when we see qualities in others that we are “envious of” or we wished we could “be someone else” what our minds are really trying to say is–“Hey! I really admire this quality, let’s work towards this bc I think it fits your schema of you!” So–dig deep, and ask yourself, “what specifically am I “jealous of” or do I “want to be like” in this person. We are all made up of a very unique combination of parts, so we are all wonderfully, authentically us.

So, be yourself. Really. And if there’s things you don’t like–work on it. If there’s people you “wished you were”, find the deeper meaning in that desire and chase it. And last but not least, love yourself through that process of that continuous growth (after all, we are all works-in-progress or WIPS as I fondly refer to it). There’s a saying that the moment we embrace an “ugly” or undesired emotion or characteristic about ourselves, it is then we can truly look at it and work towards cultivating a more desired state of being (i.e. we honor that part and it lets go of taking over our brains). Because we can embrace the “ugly parts” and learn from them… or? We can pretend they don’t exist as they continuously cycle through our lives and manifest in one way or another.

If I had to pick, I’d pick honoring who you are, and cultivating the best version of YOU.

Recently, I’ve heard an increasing chorus of, “AHHH… if only I weren’t hungry right now” (and I’ve been guilty of this myself). Now that “Bikini season” is under way, more and more fad diets are popping up and people deciding to try different methods of losing weight. Amongst all the confusion, liquid cleanses, and body wraps–how does our appetite play a role? Should we suppress it or indulge it?

Well, your appetite–like thirst, is a built-in body mechanism that is there to tell you, “hey, you’re lacking some nutrients to feed my awesome body processes!” much like how you feel the urge to drink water when you’re dehydrated. Many people begrudgingly think that the appetite is an enemy–but it’s really there to help, that is–if you listen to it and feed it in a healthy way.

If you suppress your appetite, here’s the bodies initial response: increased stress hormones (cortisol) and insulin. What do these guys do? They tell your body to store fat. So while you may think skipping a meal will lower your calorie intake for the day, and in essence help you lose weight–this may be working against you.

However, word of caution: feeling true hunger is not an all access pass to eating a bunch of donuts or nutrient deficient foods–your body is telling you that you’re LACKING nutrients in the first place so feeding it sugar and empty calories will also help you pack on pounds (and your appetite will only bug you again in an hour or so once it realizes it didn’t get the nutrients it needed).

So how do we befriend the often under appreciated appetite?

Feed it healthy, nutrient foods. A small meal with some healthy fats, protein, and complex carbs should do the trick. My rule of thumb is to always have some clean protein in your meal. Some snack ideas? Apples and almond butter, hummus and carrots, chicken and guac, a small protein filled salad, beef and veggies, a whey protein shake (as pure of form as possible) with all natural peanut butter and bananas, or eggs and fruit.

At the end of the day, our bodies are our friend. They are intuitive and know WAY more about what’s going on in their complex systems than we do. So to honor that, it’s best we feed it with kindness and nutrient dense foods (tho indulging on occasion, is totally fine too! That’s part of the human experience after all).

Until next time, J out.

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